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" AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 The Google Doc alone was fourteen pages. And that was just the schedule of bands I was supposed to see on an inaugural trip to the annual SXSW music parade here. Let alone the three-hour wait for Kanye, the overwhelming aural distractions, and, you know, barbecue. By the time it was over, Esquire music man and Austin local Andy Langer looked at me and said, &amp;quot;Just go sleep. Trust me.&amp;quot; Well the three men behind the mic at NPR&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;All Songs Considered&amp;quot; \u2014 for my money the best way to discover music without having to deal with obnoxious Pitchfork people \u2014 either sleep with headphones on or just don&amp;#039;t get much. Because they listened to something like 1,300 songs for this year&amp;#039;s SXSW, and that was before they even got down here. (Their coverage continues here.) So we asked the three long-time hosts for surprising, stumbled-upon, and soon-to-be-Pitchfork&amp;#039;d artists from four days of chaos. \u2014Matt Sullivan From Bob Boilen:  Colin Stetson It&amp;#039;s always amazing to hear a musician do something nearly impossible, but there was Colin Stetson with a huge bass sax, the ability to circularly breath, and his immense sound: No electronics. No effects pedals. Just a man, a reed, and a huge hunk of metal. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; Typhoon A dozen players, multiple drummers, violins, cello, guitars \u2014 all coming together to celebrate life, more or less. Typhoon may be the only band I went out of my way to see multiple times at SXSW. Well worth it. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; Adam Arcuragi &amp;amp;amp; the Lupine Chorale Society Another celebration of spirit \u2014 this one from deep down in the soul \u2014 is a Philly soul with the old-school power of Van Morrison and Bruce Springsteen. Which is not the sort of music I listen to much these days, but Arcuragi and his band are infectious, breathtaking, and just so good for a rousing sing-a-long. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; tUnE-YarDs Some wonderfully quirky tunes from Oakland&amp;#039;s Merrill Garbus here \u2014 often built around live loops made with a ukelele, percussion, violin, and her strong voice. It&amp;#039;s a sound that mixes her deep love and study of African rhythm and American and British pop in a way that&amp;#039;s unlike anything I&amp;#039;ve heard before: adventurous, sometimes challenging, and always worth the ride. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; James Blake Okay, we&amp;#039;d heard of him, but his performance on opening night of SXSW 2011 was only his second U.S. appearance, and he won over the eager rocking crowd with his hushed restraint. Blake performed on a synthesizer with a guitarist and drummer, which made for spacious eletronic music with soul \u2014 sounds that were clipped, sure, but soaring, too, with lyrics that are spare and yet essential.  CLICK HERE TO LISTEN &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; From Robin Hilton:  James Vincent McMorrow This Irish singer-songwriter had the most remarkable voice of anyone I saw at SXSW this year \u2014 the heartbreakingly beautiful falsetto of Justin Vernon (aka Bon Iver) and raspy soul of Ray LaMontagne put together.__ CLICK HERE TO LISTEN &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; Austra Canada&amp;#039;s answer to the Swedish electro-synth-pop band The Knife \u2014 which is to say this group, led by singer Katie Stelmanis (a jaw-dropping force on stage), makes throbbing, beat-heavy, analog songs that are both unsettling and beautifully hypnotic.__ CLICK HERE TO LISTEN &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; Zorch Joy was one of the recurring themes of this year&amp;#039;s SXSW, and Austin&amp;#039;s own playful, electronic rock duo Zorch served up more than a lot of bands. &amp;quot;Giant surprise,&amp;quot; they sing on the epic song &amp;quot;Zut Alore.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;We are lizards disguised, and we&amp;#039;re controlling your lives, with trilateral spies.&amp;quot; (For what it&amp;#039;s worth, I believe them.)__ CLICK HERE TO LISTEN &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; Deep Dark Robot We&amp;#039;re in the middle of a much-welcomed garage-rock revival, and this Los Angeles-based duo has the formula down: short, potent bursts of wildly infectious grooves and gritty riffs, with plenty of noisy swagger to go along.__ CLICK HERE TO LISTEN &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; The Vandelles I listened to more than 1,300 bands while preparing for this year&amp;#039;s SXSW and found the Jesus and Mary Chain&amp;#039;s sonic fingerprints everywhere. The Brooklyn-based Vandelles buried glassy-eyed fans in cascading walls of monstrous, droning guitar noise, with remote, spaced-out vocals floating delicately in the middle of it all. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; From Stephen Thompson:  The Calm Blue Sea The comparisons are easy (Explosions in the Sky comes to mind), but the Calm Blue Sea&amp;#039;s epic thunderings are far too beautiful to dismiss. I just didn&amp;#039;t want to see an end to the Austin band&amp;#039;s gracefully stormy, mostly wordless set. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; Holger I knew nothing about them when I walked into this Brazilian rock band&amp;#039;s showcase, but I soon felt compelled to indulge in those arrhythmic convulsions that occur when music writers attempt to dance. Holger&amp;#039;s drummer was like a band in and of himself; everything else was a bonus. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; Fang Island The Brooklyn band describes its sound as &amp;quot;everyone high-fiving everyone,&amp;quot; and that&amp;#039;s not shtick. In the heart-swellingly overdriven spirit of Andrew W.K., Fang Island is all massive guitars and flinging hair, just when you need them most. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; Julianna Barwick A singer who loops and layers her own voice to form a vast one-woman chorus, Barwick belonged in the church that had been converted into a music venue for SXSW. It&amp;#039;s too easy to call her music a religious experience in that setting, but it sure was nice \u2014 at times overwhelmingly so. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; Trampled by Turtles Many bluegrass bands love to show off their speed, but this outfit, from Duluth, Minnesota, invested its supercharged songs with a hooky playfulness and white-knuckle power. Fans of the Avett Brothers&amp;#039;s raucous side ought to take note, if they haven&amp;#039;t already. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; PLUS: 15 Breakout Bands and Backstage Photos  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/music/a9640/best-bands-sxsw-2011-5438666/>